The Private Life of Public Architecture

"This book assists in bringing some sanity to an ongoing debate about how Australia’s next generation of infrastructure should be delivered." – Peter Raisbeck, Architecture Australia

This book is not just about a building – it is about how major architecture gets commissioned, managed and built in Australia today. In this case, we look at the new, billion dollar Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. The book follows the whole process - from the three trucks of drawings, documents and models sent to the Premier's office, which won the initial design competition, through to the newspapers lurching into gear with their familiar rhetoric. Yet, despite the glare of media attention, the process that lies behind big architecture is far from clear. This book explores this process, through a building that not only challenges the conventions of public space, but also what architecture means in the contemporary city.

What others think...

"The Private Life of Public Architecture is a rich banquet of a book that gets below the skin of the entire process." – Willow Aliento, The Fifth Estate

"...rather than serving up simplistic gloss or kick-in-the-head sound bites, The Private Life of Public Architecture takes us behind the scenes of a PPP project, in this case Melbourne’s new convention centre." – Peter Raisbeck, Architecture Australia

Architecture in its Continuums and Somewhere Other, designed by Stuart Geddes, have been shortlisted for the New Zealand Best Design Awards. Both books are finalists in the category of Editorial and Books. Held...